Nodes of Knowledge: Librarians as Navigators for Geospatial Technology Users

Abstract

Decades following the advent of geospatial technology use in government, industry, and academia, elementary and secondary classrooms remain mostly uninitiated in the ways of spatial analysis, data collection, and map creation. While computers have become more common in schools, limitations of bandwith, accessibility, and familiarity remain barriers to using geospatial technology across the curriculum. A multitude of small studies has been undertaken describing the success of teachers using geospatial technology in classrooms, yet these reports have not led to widespread usage by technology, geography, science, or social studies teachers. Geospatial technology professionals who shared their enthusiasm for this resource with educators decades earlier remain surprised at the continued dearth of geographic information science (GIS) in pre-collegiate classrooms. This review uses survey results from seven professional development workshops in Colorado to frame a discussion of the cycle of adoption of new technologies by K-12 educators. Survey results in Colorado substantiate previously-identified concerns about the time it takes to learn and instruct using GIS, the increased burden of teaching English and math as part of science and social studies instruction, and the technical challenges associated with lack of up-to-date computers and sufficient bandwidth. Librarians, who are often overlooked as educational collaborators, can become equal partners in educational ventures. As more and more patrons of libraries wish to explore digital maps, academic librarians trained in GIS will be called to assist patrons in addressing new challenges and can model this behavior for K-12 educators and school librarians. Based on the survey comments from Colorado K-12 teachers interested in geospatial technologies, geographers, academic librarians, and school librarians should consider developing approaches that support elementary and secondary educators in learning and teaching with geospatial technology.